USB Battery Charger

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I am sure most of us have at least one set of rechargeable batteries, I know I have several sets of AA and AAA however the charger always seems to hide.

This is a USB 'AA' and 'AAA' battery charger. It is 8.5x6x2.5cm and weights very
little. There is a clear plastic lid that slides off to allow either two 'AA' or two
'AAA' batteries to be inserted. You could even insert one of each as the design aligns
them in different ways. Yes I did say two so a set of four batteries would take a while
to charge.

Beside the charging area is a USB port so while plugged in whatever normally plugs
into that USB port can still do so. In fact for those still only having ports at the
back of the PC this could help 'modernise' as it comes with a 1.5metre lead that exits
from the top of the unit, plenty long enough to reach from the back of most PC's.

The USB Battery Charger is supplied with two 'AA' and two 'AAA' rechargeable batteries,
while the 600mAh of the 'AAA' is not far behind current offerings the 1400mAh of the
'AA' is 50% under that of the last set of 'AA' that I purchased.

Each battery draws current at the rate of 100mA an hour so the 'AAA' would take 6
hours to charge and the 'AA' 14 hours or should you have more powerful units just look
at the batteries if they say 21mAh they will take 21 hours to charge.

These figures apply per battery so two batteries take no longer to charge than one.
The amount of current available for the USB expansion port is 400mA with one battery
inserted and 300mA with two so this may possibly be a problem for some devices.

There is a LED above each battery holder and I noted a range of signals from them
however on studying the back of the blister pack - the only instructions supplied -
there was no information on what the various lights meant so I asked the companies technical
support department who gave me the following answer.

Each light is independent so the message given by one light applies only to that
battery. Solid green = no charge, Rapid green flash = 25% charge, Slow green flash =
50% charge, Dim green 75% charge and no LED fully charged. I managed to work out the
first and last for myself but the other information should have been shown on the pack.

For anyone who travels a lot then not having the weight of another charger this is
an advantage or for those stuck at a PC without extra 13amp plugs available. The length
of the lead is also useful for those without front USB ports.

It is also a rather different device and perhaps an ideal present for that computer
person who you never know what to get. I am sure almost everyone uses rechargeable batteries
and having this device plugged in for a day would charge even those larger capacity
batteries, albeit two at a time.

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